Balloons are often used in advertising and other types of displays to draw the public's attention. Because of their colorful appearance and festive connotations, balloons are eye-catching features that add visual appeal to any kind of display. Such displays often serve to accentuate public announcements of a personal nature, such as the birth of a child, a party, or a yard sale. Balloon-enhanced displays also play an important role in commercial promotions, business marketing and public relations events.
Among the business applications of balloon-enhanced displays, perhaps the most notable and institutionalized is that of the real estate “Open House” sign. The “Open House” sign is used to direct potential buyers to a property location and usually features a directional indicator, such as an arrow. The customary presentation of such signs includes multiple free-floating balloons filled with helium for buoyancy. In this setting, decorative balloons are usually tied to a handle which is built into the top of a standard real estate “tent sign,” as depicted in FIG. 1, which handle is also used to grasp the sign while transporting it.
For all of its advantages, however, the balloon-enhanced display has a number of serious drawbacks and problems associated with it. The process of filling balloons with helium is time consuming and can be hazardous. Helium tanks are heavy and bulky, and improperly secured tanks are prone to fall and cause injuries. Once the balloons are filled, their buoyancy makes them difficult to handle and transport. In windy or inclement weather, buoyant balloons often escape to litter the landscape. Deflated and partially deflated escaped balloons present a choking hazard to wildlife and small children.
The economies of balloon enhanced displays are also disadvantageous in several respects. Helium gas and storage tanks are expensive. Adding to the expense are the recurring costs of the balloons, stems and string or ribbon to secure them. After one use, these items are discarded. Valuable time of sales/marketing personnel is wasted in filling, transporting and deploying the balloons. At best, balloon-enhanced displays may last a few hours, after which the balloons must be replaced.
As applied to real estate salespeople's use of balloons with their “Open House” signs, the foregoing problems are magnified. On any given weekend, a typical real estate office may have thirty or more Open House events, for each of which a salesperson must place up to eight directional “tent signs” and attach the balloons. In order to fill the required balloons, the salesperson must first drive to the sales office—often out of the way of the route to the Open House—and then wait his/her turn while other salespeople fill their balloons. An hour or two of prime sales time is often wasted in this effort.
Once the balloons are filled with helium, the salesperson's problems have just begun. He/she must now shove the buoyant balloons inside his/her vehicle, where they will float around, obstructing the driver's view and diverting his/her attention from the road. After reaching his/her destination, the agent must contend with the wind and weather to keep the balloons from escaping before they are secured to the sign. Even after they are tied to the sign, the balloons are apt to pop, deflate or break loose.
Another shortcoming of an inflated balloon display is the inherent difficulty in using the ovoid balloon surface to display readable lettering and/or graphic symbols. The curvature of the balloon surface and the constant rotational motion of a free-floating balloon make it an unsuitable medium for all but the briefest scripts. This limitation particularly disadvantages the real estate salesperson, who must depend upon the compact area of the Open House sign to convey as much information to the public as possible about the listed property.
The present invention offers an inexpensive practical solution to all of the foregoing problems in the form of a simulated balloon display. The simulated balloon display presents the appearance of a cluster of free-floating balloons in the form of a flat silhouette comprising multiple overlapping ovoid or partially ovoid outlines cut out from a thin panel of durable translucent plastic with etched surface texturing to create the illusion of volume and perspective.
Since the simulated balloon display is supported by a rigid staff attached to a sign or other fixed structure, it is designed to withstand the wind and outdoor elements. Since the simulated balloon display is flat, it can be stored compactly and transported easily from place to place. Since the simulated balloon material is durable and does not require inflation, a single display can be used and re-used almost indefinitely.
The flatness of the simulated balloon surface also enables the display of messages in the form of text and/or graphic symbols, so that the simulated balloon functions as informational extension of the promotional display of which it is a part. Thus is the balloon element of the display transformed from a purely decorative device to a tool of communication.